Insurance valuation - how to negotiate a higher amount?

[MattyD803]

Condi said:

Salvage value is £450, and so I will almost certainly buy it back (has £100 of fuel in it!), but the bigger the valuation they put on it the more I get back. It would be a Cat-S.

Blimey, well worth having back if you can squeeze them for £4k? Do you know what the repair estimate was?

[Condi]

MattyD803 said:

Blimey, well worth having back if you can squeeze them for £4k? Do you know what the repair estimate was?

£6k using genuine Audi parts. Not a huge amount of damage really.

[Durzel]

This car sounds like it might have been a better candidate for classic car insurance, or at least an agreed value policy, rather than "whatever is cheapest on Confused.com".

[anonymous-user]

I'm struggling to see what is the Special Edition is about? From the link the major thing it seems to be is the sports seats. The S-line is just a trim level below the S model.

I know it is a pain dealing with insurers but if it was a DTM, etc but an S-line Special Edition doesn't seem very different from a bog standard S-line, if is just the seats then knowing how bad the standard seats are I would be arguing.

[OutInTheShed]

Condi said:

Well no, this is the problem. If you hid the odometer you could believe it had 85,000 on the clock. Never failed an MOT, seats are almost unmarked, interior is in great condition, paintwork is almost perfect having had the boot and bonnet resprayed a couple of years ago. It's by no means a tired, leggy, worn out ex-taxi. It's still on it's original clutch! Despite the odometer going round a few more times than other cars, based on condition and history it should be worth more than standard valuation.

You may think it was worth more than standard valuation, but what would anyone have paid you for it?
In the cold light of day, who with say £5k in their pocket would look at 185k miles?

If you've had it a long time, chances are you would have sold it in a year or two and not got much for it, so in the medium term, how far out of pocket do you really think you will be?
It's over due a clutch.
At that mileage lots of stuff is waiting to go wrong, it could have sprung you a big bill next week.

My car is less miles and if an insurance co offered me half what you've been offered, I'd be thinking over my n years ownership of the car I'd done very well but all good things come to an end. It's always hard to know when to change a car you like, you've had the decision made for you before you got any irritating trouble. You know it's taking a chance every extra 10k you put on it.

Scout around for different valuations, take what you can get and move on.

[Condi]

gottans said:

I'm struggling to see what is the Special Edition is about? From the link the major thing it seems to be is the sports seats. The S-line is just a trim level below the S model.

S4 19 inch wheels, Bang and Olufsen stereo, DAB radio from memory. It was the pre-curser to the Black Edition.


Anyway.. Spoke to the insurance company rather than the claims hander who were very good about it. Said they had quite a few instances at the moment when the book values were a bit low and if I send them everything over including the Parkers guide, other adverts etc, they would look at it and speak to Glasses if needs be to check. Unexpectedly they were very helpful. It might not be much but even £500 on a £3750 valuation is 15% or so.

Edited by Condi on Monday 16th May 20:04

[dhutch]

Condi said:

Anyway.. Spoke to the insurance company rather than the claims hander who were very good about it. Said they had quite a few instances at the moment when the book values were a bit low and if I send them everything over including the Parkers guide, other adverts etc, they would look at it and speak to Glasses if needs be to check. Unexpectedly they were very helpful. It might not be much but even £500 on a £3750 valuation is 15% or so.

How did you get on in the end?

[dhutch]

Condi said:

Glasses Guide, taking into account the age/mileage etc... however...

It is a top spec engine
It is in a desirable colour
It is a "special edition"
I have every receipt ever spent and FSH
The general overall condition is excellent, passenger seats are largely unused, bonnet and boot resprayed a few years ago etc.
It has a factory fitted detachable tow-bar which would cost £700 to replace.

I have a very similar car.

Actually a 24yo E46 330ci in Imola Red, which has just had £4750 worth of under body restoration and a full respray.

Currently its in mint condition, due back to me next week, and i am just wondering what I can do to head off such discussions should the unfortunate need to have them arise.

Is it worth getting an independent valuation of the car and insuring on that basis, if so how do you best go about that?

[alscar]

dhutch said:

I have a very similar car.

Actually a 24yo E46 330ci in Imola Red, which has just had £4750 worth of under body restoration and a full respray.

Currently its in mint condition, due back to me next week, and i am just wondering what I can do to head off such discussions should the unfortunate need to have them arise.

Is it worth getting an independent valuation of the car and insuring on that basis, if so how do you best go about that?

Might be worthwhile you speaking with the likes of Hagerty or Classicline or Footman James who specialise in insuring classic cars but may include ones like your E46 as modern classics ?
Would have though an Independent valuation and then an agreed value policy is probably the sensible route.

[Condi]

dhutch said:

ow did you get on in the end?

I think we settled for £4500? Maybe £4250? It was definitely above £4k but lower than £5k. Tbh the insurance company (Admiral) were very good and once I handed them some supporting information they came back with a sensible offer and we settled at that.

dhutch said:

Is it worth getting an independent valuation of the car and insuring on that basis, if so how do you best go about that?

See if any of the classic/specialist insurers will offer an agreed valuation which you'd be happy with? Mine was in no way a classic and was just a good condition heavily used daily driver, yours seems to be somewhat nicer and more unique so have a chat to a few reputable insurance companies and tell them what you want. Someone, somewhere will underwrite the risk to offer what you want, and a specialist/classic car broker will likely have a panel of insurers and know which to call. Insurance is - at times - still a personal product.

[JulianHJ]

dhutch said:

Is it worth getting an independent valuation of the car and insuring on that basis, if so how do you best go about that?

An agreed value policy would be an option. I have one via Adrian Flux, I think many brokers who specialise in performance and classic cars would be able to arrange this for you. My car is only seven years old, and I just needed to send in a series of photos to show its condition and mileage, no inspection required.